Women's Semifinalists:

Pre-Match Psycho-profiles

Martina Hingis versus Serena Williams

Hingis is the most mentally tough players on the WTA tour but it may not be enough to blunt Serena's power

Martina Hingis

Without a doubt Martina Hingis is one of the most mentally tough players on the WTA tour. In this era of the "big girls" Martina seems diminutive. However, Martina has an incredible heart, the heart and soul of a fighter who hates to lose but has come to recognize that even her mental game on some-to-most occasions against the Amazons of women's tennis comes up SHORT and can only with difficulty fend off the power games of most of her major rivals. Nevertheless, you will always see Martina looking for a way to win, strategizing to gain an advantage for a moment, even resorting to psycho-tricks (see my article on Mental Time Bombs) off the court in hopes of getting the upper hand.

Hingis, even as a young pre-teenager, was more cunning than her older and bigger opponents relying on a chess-like style of tennis to out maneuver them. Hingis is the most tennis-intelligent player on the women's tour. What remains to be seen is whether she can use this intelligence to improve her physical game an absolute must if she is ever to win another Grand Slam event.

Serena Williams

I am fairly critical of Serena Williams' (and Venus') mental game and, despite all the hype about her (their) mental toughness, I find such talk a diversion and facade. Her (their) underlying mental frailties have emerged constantly over the years, most recently in Serena's quarterfinal match against Davenport who essentially allowed Serena to win. Serena was not capable of taking the match much earlier when she had numerous opportunities. What we witnessed was a seesaw back and forth type match, the kind you see on the public courts where players are both afraid to win and lose, leading to breakdowns of strokes. Although both players made some big shots at important times in this match, we should not forget that they never should have been in the situations they were in.

She has all the tools but to beat Martina, Serena will have to maintain concentration

Mentally tough players do not allow large fluctuations in performance as frequently as Serena (and Venus). As even she and Venus have admitted (see below), having the size and athleticism they do, they should never have to struggle against those smaller, slower, and less powerful girls, let alone lose to them. Richard Williams himself has mocked his girls, as a motivational ploy, saying they should be ashamed of losing to "little girls," or not blowing them off the court.

Even though losses are becoming more rare, most of Serena's matches are replete with mental lapses leading to poor play. Usually it's the physicality of Serena's game that comes to her rescue. Although you could argue that the ability to lift her mental game and turn it on when it counts makes her mentally tough, I contend that one of the key ingredients of mental toughness is psychological consistency in numerous categories including concentration, tennis intelligence, and having control of one's motor system. Knowing you have the big serve or booming groundstrokes to bail you out certainly helps your confidence but should not be confused with overall mental toughness.

More on mental toughness criteria at the end of the year in my annual psychological world rankings.

Forecast

Despite her superior mental toughness I don't think Hingis' game can damage Serena. In this match I think we will see power and physical skills prevail over court savvy with Serena winning in three. Martina's only chance is to win the first set and hope Serena will lose her concentration as she often does. To win on her own accord Hingis' will have to play flawless tennis from the get go.

Venus Williams versus Jennifer Capriati

Venus has the potential to be the most dominating player ever but the game must take on a more important role in her life.

Venus Williams:

See above. Most of what I have said about Serena applies to Venus as well, although I believe Venus has the potential to be the most dominating player ever psychologically and of course, physically/technically. However, this will only occur once tennis becomes more meaningful to her. The game must take on a more important role in her life.

Crucial also is that she encounters constant big time competition, and I'm not talking about matches of low quality with so-called rivals; rather matches in which she is beaten by an opponent's skill and not because she decided to check out early mentally, or didn't prepare properly, as was the case last year when Hingis "beat" her by some laughable score. She needs to be motivated to give her best, something that probably will only happen once a real rivalry develops, and not with her sister. Jennifer Capriati could be that rival.

Jennifer Capriati:

Capriati is mentally tough at this juncture and has the game to support her psyche

What can I say. The mental qualities she has displayed are stellar. Jennifer is a role model for anyone who has been down in the dumps. After years of bouncing around on tour after her burnout phase, she has finally realized what tennis means to her health and well-being. She is at that place Venus needs to reach. I am not saying that Venus needs to fall on her face like Capriati did, just that she needs to experience a sort of tennis or life adversity before she will really appreciate what the game means to her, and what her game means to her fans, and the game itself. A rival like Jennifer could expedite Venus' entry into this tennis ZONE.

Getting back to Capriati, she is very mentally tough at this juncture of her career. She also has the game to support her psyche and vice versa. She is in harmony currently, her mind-body mechanisms are totally in synch most of the time. Short-term we can expect great things from Jennifer, even winning tomorrow and the Open her third Grand Slam win this year.

Long-term an extreme personality like Capriati must always guard against those demons that potentially still lie dormant. Persons who have been traumatized and abused drugs are vulnerable to relapse once fulfillment in their lives erodes (say getting bored with tennis at some point). Such can lead to depression and the need to get that certain feeling back. Let's hope Jennifer guards against this, or at least is aware of the danger and has a long tennis career and happy family life thereafter. We all wish her the best.

Forecast

Capriati in 2 sets if she wins the first set. A toss-up if she losses the first set. Overall I give her the mental edge but am aware that Venus sees Jennifer as a legitimate rival who is almost on par with her physically. Hence Venus will be on guard and should play her best tennis tomorrow.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you about think this article by emailing us here at TennisONE.

Dr. Roland A. Carlstedt has followed the professional tennis tours since 1985, fulltime from 1989-1998 in which he on average attended 25 tournaments a year including all Grand Slam events and important Davis Cup ties. During this time he complied perhaps the most extensive database in existence on the psychological performance, tendencies, and profiles of most ATP and WTA players. His annual Psychological World Rankings for Tennis have been published since 1991 more than 500 times in over 40 countries. His rankings and data are based on his Psychological Observation System for Tennis. Interestingly his 2000 rankings which were released prior to the 2001 Australian Open had 2 of 4 semifinalists and 8 of 16 quarterfinalists on them including such unlikely players as Arnaud Clement and Sebastian Grossjean. His 2001 rankings will appear in TennisONE at the end of the year.

Last Updated 9/6/01. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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